Editing Retcon (section)

==GW and Retcons==

GW's stance on canon has, for many years, been not to actually discuss any issue of canon or lore. The universal quote can be thought of as '''''"Everything is canon, just not always true"''''' and some staff have pretty much said EXACTLY this.

This was developed as a view, quite sensibly, in the early days of GW to stop arguments and fights over lore in their stores - especially at a time when WHFB was a mess and Rogue Trader did not know what it was yet and so lore conflicts and what appeared in publications often conflicted or seemed out of context.

Every-time you see a group of neckbeards at each others bushy throats or a web forum descends into chaos, you would serve the community well in reminding them of this.

No-one is right, no-one is wrong - the galaxy is a vast place and full of warp magic; if it can be conceived by the human mind, it's happened somewhere. Just stop bitching at one another and have fun...

Here's just a few of the quotes and who they came from over the years

''"With Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000, the notion of canon is a fallacy. [...] Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 exist as tens of thousands of overlapping realities in the imaginations of games developers, writers, readers and gamers. None of those interpretations is wrong."''
[https://mechanicalhamster.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/jumping-the-fence/  Gav Thorpe, Lead Designer GW]

''"It all stems from the assumption that there's a binding contract between author and reader to adhere to some nonexistent subjective construct or 'true' representation of the setting. There is no such contract, and no such objective truth."''
(See comments section) [https://www.boomtron.com/grimdark-aaron-dembski-bowden/ Andy Hoare, Game Designer GW]

''"There is no canon. There are several hundred creators all adding to the melting pot of the IP."''
[https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-lord-inquisitor/interview-with-aaron-dembski-bowden/493311764034081/ Aaron Dembski-Bowden, co-author Horus Heresy series]

''"Here's our standard line: Yes it's all official, but remember that we're reporting back from a time where stories aren't always true, or at least 100% accurate. If it has the 40K logo on it, it exists in the 40K universe. Or it was a legend that may well have happened. Or a rumour that may or may not have any truth behind it."''
[https://aarondembskibowden.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/heresy-black-legion-chatter-in-the-mail-this-morning/ Marc Gascogne, chief editor Black Library]

With this in mind, it's common for people to still refer to conflicts as "retcons" but please bear in mind, this is a GW universe and almost NOTHING is ever canon enough to argue about anyway...

Note; this mindset of [[meme|“Everything is canon”]] ''([[what|actual words spoken by the franchise’s twitter account, yes, we know.]])'' could also apply to [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic the hedgehog‘s]] canon due to it’s fractured nature ''([[skub|don’t tell the lorefags this.]])'', but that’s a whole Can of worms  not even WE are brave enough to open